“I wish…”

Daily Devotions

May 19, 2016

“Love one another as I have loved you.”

Jn 15:12 NKJV

A Christian counselor writes: “A sixth grade teacher shared with me the results of a creative writing project assigned to her class. She asked the kids to complete a series of sentences that began with the phrase, ‘I wish…’ The teacher expected her students to write about their desires for bicycles, toys, animals, and trips to theme parks, etc. Instead, twenty of the thirty students made reference to the breakup of their families or conflict at home: ‘I wish my parents wouldn’t fight.’ ‘I wish my father would come back.’ ‘I wish I could get straight A’s, so my dad would love me.’ ‘I wish my mother didn’t have a boyfriend.’ ‘I wish I had one mom and one dad, so the kids wouldn’t make fun of me. I’ve three moms and three dads, and they botch up my life.’ ‘I wish I had an M-1 rifle so I could shoot those who make fun of me.’ It’s hardly front-page news that the family is in trouble today, but it continues to distress me to see little children like these struggling at a time when simply growing up is a major undertaking. Millions of their peers are caught in the same snare. Every aspect of their young lives is influenced by family instability during their developmental years. Without gaining access to professional counseling, many of these kids will drag their problems into future relationships. Then the pattern of disintegration will repeat itself in the next generation. Returning to the responses given by these sixth grade students, I wonder how your children would complete a sentence that began with the words, ‘I wish…’”